With society's increasing awareness of the world's dwindling supply of natural resources and overflowing landfills, many communities are providing, and even mandating, recycling services to its residents. The benefits of these efforts have already begun to be seen and will continue to be realized into the future. However, as with most beneficial programs, these efforts are accompanied by some burdens. One of these burdens is that in order to separate the various recyclable materials such as, but not limited to: glass, plastic, paper, aluminum, and cardboard, more space and receptacles are required. As a result, most people resort to purchasing a multitude of trash cans or other containers and, prior to placing the recyclables inside, thoroughly crush and compress them in order to maximize container space. While this is an effective practice when dealing with conventional refuse, it is of little use with plastic bottles, cans, and other containers because it is difficult to crush them completely and also because of the resilient nature of the plastic or metal material, which leads to subsequent expansion towards its original shape.
Addressing the need as identified immediately above, this novel, innovative apparatus is intended to reduce space required by discarded containers in the recycling process. The apparatus consists of a vacuum pump that is equipped with a nozzle and a variety of adapters that adapt to the variety of openings commonly encountered on typical recyclable plastic bottles, cans, and other containers. With the container opening placed on the nozzle, the user simply flips a switch and the vacuum pump begins removing the air from within the container, completely crushing it. As a result, the container remains compressed and is less likely to expand toward its original shape. The equipment is located in a durable metal housing that is capable of surface or wall mounting. The use of this apparatus and system allows one to reduce the physical space required by used containers in a manner, which is quick, easy, and efficient.
Several attempts have been made in the past to crush plastic containers for subsequent refuse or recycling activities. U.S. Pat. No. 6,609,456, in the name of Schneider, discloses a hand-held household container compressing device, comprising a long straight handle with a container-receiving aperture and a non-slip base. Unfortunately, the Schneider device does not utilize a vacuum pump to eliminate the stress of manually compressing a container and to effectively evacuate the maximum amount of air as possible.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,747, issued in the name of Kahil, teaches a container crusher having a central aperture surrounding a concave area for resting on the neck area of said container and hand grips. A downward motion from the user on the hand grips crushes the container until it is compressed. Unfortunately, the Kahil device also suffers from the same setbacks as the Schneider device and, as such, does not fall under the scope of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,968, issued in the name of Kirschner et al., describes a container crushing apparatus employing a stationary presser member, a confronting movable presser member, links that enable the movable presser member with respect to the stationary presser member, and a lever for effecting the movement. As the movable presser unit is forced toward the stationary presser member with a container placed therebetween, the said container is crushed. The Kirschner et al. device utilizes a mechanical device to crush the containers in question whereas the present invention utilizes a vacuum pump to effectively evacuate the air within the containers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,946, issued in the name of Laux, discloses an apparatus for compressing a container, comprising a housing with a lid (the lid containing a hole to receive the top of a container) a shelf for resting the container thereon, a set of rods where the shelf travels on, and a set of gears, belts, and handles to force the shelf to travel on the rods and press against the lid, thereby crushing the container held therein. This device also utilizes a mechanical pressing apparatus and system to effect a crushed container and does not utilize a vacuum pumping apparatus to evacuate the chamber of the container to be crushed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,530, issued in the name of Perhacs et al., teaches a device for compacting hollow aluminum or plastic containers, comprising a base having a concave surface, an arm with a convex surface, and a hinge for securing the arm to the base. The base is preferably mounted to a vertical wall and the arm has a plate. When the arm is forced towards the base with a container placed therebetween, the container is crushed. The Perhacs et al. device, along with the aforementioned devices, teaches a mechanical device to crush the containers in question.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,598,522, issued in the name of Yamaguchi, describes an empty container pressing machine, comprising a pedestal with a container bearing portion, a pair of guide posts outside the container bearing portion, a container presser vertically movable about the guide posts, and a buckling mechanism. The Yamaguchi design allows the operator to stand on the container-bearing portion while manipulating the presser along the guide posts, and, as such, differs from the vacuum pump assembly of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,679,677, issued in the name of Yamauchi, discloses a vacuum pump having a casing, an inlet port, an outlet port, a flange integral with the casing, and an exhaust means for drawing the gas within the inlet port and discharging it through the outlet port.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,446,683, issued in the name of Mitchell et al., describes an attachment for a vacuum gun specifically for evacuating a fluid from a reservoir of fluid, such as brake fluid from a brake system.
None of the prior art particularly describes an apparatus that effectively crushes plastic bottles and containers to a minimal volume with a vacuum pump and chamber. Accordingly, the need has arisen for a solution to this problem that provides a means by which recyclable plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and the like can be effectively compressed in order to maximize storage space.